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VARYING in thickness and in number from place to place, coal seams in the Canadian Rockies also range in pitch from nearly horizontal to vertical, sometimes with overturns. Over the entire coal-bearing area there are considerable differences of rank in coals of the same geological age, and there are marked differences in ash content and washability characteristics. Correlation of seams at mining operations within a few miles of each other has often proved impossible. These factors influence mining methods, and, of course, production results. The oldest coal formations of western Canada are of Lower Cretaceous age, as the carboniferous sediments are marine and contain no coal. Coal is also present in formations of Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary ages. The rank of coal varies from semianthracite in some operations in the Kootenay and Luscar formations of the Lower Cretaceous in the Rockies to lignite in the Tertiary fields of the Saskatchewan prairies. Fig. 1 shows the general extent of the formations.

Jan 8, 1954

I HIT the ceiling when I opened my November MINING ENGINEERING and after waiting a week to cool off I' still find it necessary to express my resentment of the gross libel embodied in the editorial introduction to Norman Stines' legitimate criticism of my paper on "Russia's Mineral Potential" (p. 949). The underlying thesis of my article, and a point that I tried to make even more clearly in my oral presentation at the St. Louis meeting last February, is that we should not over estimate the present and near-future mineral production of the USSR. The words that I resent in your boxed introduction are: "Opinions range from those presented by Paul Tyler ... to those of Norman C. Stines . . ." This is not merely an understatement that can be defended by admitting that the range goes much farther to the left, beyond me. It represents the appraisal that 90 pct of your members will carry away, namely that I am not only an incompetent observer-which may be true-but always that my bias is to applaud the efficiency of the beasts in the Kremlin-which is not true. Notwithstanding my efforts to clarify the record I now find myself branded as being at the opposite pole from 'Mr. Stines among the red-eyed worshipers of Communism or at least among the timid souls that shake in their boots in the belief that the Soviet system has created an invincible as well as an evil menace to the decent peoples of the world. My ideas are somewhere in the middle ground between Mr. Stines' complaisance or contempt and the exaggerated fears of several other observers whose views have received wide acceptance. PAUL M. TYLER MINERAL TECHNOLOGIST & ECONOMIST 5005 EDGEMOOR LANE, BETHESDA, MD. The introductory paragraph to Mr. Stines' criticism of Mr. Tyler's article (Russia's Mineral Potential, June issue MINING ENGINEERING, page 494) is erroneous as pointed out in author Tyler's letter above. In his article he objectively presented an estimate of the mineral position of the Soviet based on the statistics available to him which sources are credited in the first paragraph of his article. We happen to know that, Mr. Tyler was reluctant to prepare the article for the Mineral Economics Division sessions at the 1951 Annual Meeting and did so only because of his loyalty to AIME. It was thought that this article would be a basis for discussion of this important subject at the Annual Meeting. We apologize to Mr. Tyler for any embarrassment our introduction, may have caused him. Editor

Jan 1, 1952

Jan 1, 1951

By C. C. Furnas

IT is well known that particles of different sizes are not distributed evenly throughout the average charge in an iron blast furnace. Just how great the disparity in particle size in different parts of a single plane in a furnace may be is indicated by the results of some recent investigations1 conducted by the Bureau of Mines on a furnace operating on Lake ores. The wide variations found in gas velocity, gas composition, and temperature from the periphery to the center of the upper charge column were caused by the great variation in particle size of the raw materials used and were also greatly influenced by the methods of charging. This paper summarizes the results of an investigation of the influence of different methods of charging and of the treatment of raw materials upon the size distribution of the solid particles in the blast furnace. A more complete report will appear later as a Bureau of Mines technical paper.

Jan 1, 1929

By W. H. Emmons

In 1922 Morey made a series of experiments in which he observed the cooling of a molten system containing H2O, 9.1 per cent; K2O, 17.3 per cent and SiO2, 73.6 per cent. This system was confined in a bomb; it was fluid at 500° C. and exerted no vapor pressure. In cooling to 420° C. a large part of it crystallized and at that temperature much of the water had separated from the crystals and remained as steam, which built up a pressure of 4998 lb. per sq. in., a force sufficient to lift nearly one mile of granite.' If granite, cooling at 600°, expels vapor in the process of crystallization it is reasonable to suppose that a considerably greater vapor pressure would result, and it is thought that the vapor expelled from crystallizing granitic batholiths probably has a pressure sufficient to lift two or three miles of granite. This vapor, collecting near the tops of cupolas of batholiths, is believed to exert sufficient pressure to fracture the hoods and roofs of batholiths above the cupolas. If that is true, one would expect to find that the fracture systems above cupolas are arranged in patterns that depend in part on the shapes of the cupolas. The mechanics of the situation seem to require that conical cupolas should have radial fracture patterns, that bluntly rounded cupolas should have fracture systems that are either irregular or rudely conjugated in plan, and that elongated stocks or cupolas should have fracture systems in which the fractu'res lie nearly parallel to the direction of the elongation of the cupolas. Study of essentially all the cupolas of the earth that have associated important vein-filled fractures shows that this is generally true. This

Jan 1, 1935

By W. H. Emmons

In 1922 Morey made a series of experiments in which he observed the cooling of a molten system containing H2O, 9.1 per cent; K2O, 17.3 per cent and SiO2, 73.6 per cent. This system was confined in a bomb; it was fluid at 500° C. and exerted no vapor pressure. In cooling to 420° C. a large part of it crystallized and at that temperature much of the water had separated from the crystals and remained as steam, which built up a pressure of 4998 lb. per sq. in., a force sufficient to lift nearly one mile of granite.' If granite, cooling at 600°, expels vapor in the process of crystallization it is reasonable to suppose that a considerably greater vapor pressure would result, and it is thought that the vapor expelled from crystallizing granitic batholiths probably has a pressure sufficient to lift two or three miles of granite. This vapor, collecting near the tops of cupolas of batholiths, is believed to exert sufficient pressure to fracture the hoods and roofs of batholiths above the cupolas. If that is true, one would expect to find that the fracture systems above cupolas are arranged in patterns that depend in part on the shapes of the cupolas. The mechanics of the situation seem to require that conical cupolas should have radial fracture patterns, that bluntly rounded cupolas should have fracture systems that are either irregular or rudely conjugated in plan, and that elongated stocks or cupolas should have fracture systems in which the fractu'res lie nearly parallel to the direction of the elongation of the cupolas. Study of essentially all the cupolas of the earth that have associated important vein-filled fractures shows that this is generally true. This

Jan 1, 1935

In 1922 Morey made a series of experiments in which he observed the cooling of a molten system containing H2O, 9.1 per cent; K2O, 17.3 per cent and SiO2, 73.6 per cent. This system was confined in a bomb; it was fluid at 500° C. and exerted no vapor pressure. In cooling to 420° C. a large part of it crystallized and at that temperature much of the water had separated from the crystals and remained as steam, which built up a pressure of 4998 lb. per sq. in., a force sufficient to lift nearly one mile of granite.' If granite, cooling at 600°, expels vapor in the process of crystallization it is reasonable to suppose that a considerably greater vapor pressure would result, and it is thought that the vapor expelled from crystallizing granitic batholiths probably has a pressure sufficient to lift two or three miles of granite. This vapor, collecting near the tops of cupolas of batholiths, is believed to exert sufficient pressure to fracture the hoods and roofs of batholiths above the cupolas. If that is true, one would expect to find that the fracture systems above cupolas are arranged in patterns that depend in part on the shapes of the cupolas. The mechanics of the situation seem to require that conical cupolas should have radial fracture patterns, that bluntly rounded cupolas should have fracture systems that are either irregular or rudely conjugated in plan, and that elongated stocks or cupolas should have fracture systems in which the fractu'res lie nearly parallel to the direction of the elongation of the cupolas. Study of essentially all the cupolas of the earth that have associated important vein-filled fractures shows that this is generally true. This

Jan 1, 1935

By W. H. Emmons

In 1922 Morey made a series of experiments in which he observed the cooling of a molten system containing H2O, 9.1 per cent; K2O, 17.3 per cent and SiO2, 73.6 per cent. This system was confined in a bomb; it was fluid at 500° C. and exerted no vapor pressure. In cooling to 420° C. a large part of it crystallized and at that temperature much of the water had separated from the crystals and remained as steam, which built up a pressure of 4998 lb. per sq. in., a force sufficient to lift nearly one mile of granite.' If granite, cooling at 600°, expels vapor in the process of crystallization it is reasonable to suppose that a considerably greater vapor pressure would result, and it is thought that the vapor expelled from crystallizing granitic batholiths probably has a pressure sufficient to lift two or three miles of granite. This vapor, collecting near the tops of cupolas of batholiths, is believed to exert sufficient pressure to fracture the hoods and roofs of batholiths above the cupolas. If that is true, one would expect to find that the fracture systems above cupolas are arranged in patterns that depend in part on the shapes of the cupolas. The mechanics of the situation seem to require that conical cupolas should have radial fracture patterns, that bluntly rounded cupolas should have fracture systems that are either irregular or rudely conjugated in plan, and that elongated stocks or cupolas should have fracture systems in which the fractu'res lie nearly parallel to the direction of the elongation of the cupolas. Study of essentially all the cupolas of the earth that have associated important vein-filled fractures shows that this is generally true. This

Jan 1, 1935

By W. H. Emmons

In 1922 Morey made a series of experiments in which he observed the cooling of a molten system containing H2O, 9.1 per cent; K2O, 17.3 per cent and SiO2, 73.6 per cent. This system was confined in a bomb; it was fluid at 500° C. and exerted no vapor pressure. In cooling to 420° C. a large part of it crystallized and at that temperature much of the water had separated from the crystals and remained as steam, which built up a pressure of 4998 lb. per sq. in., a force sufficient to lift nearly one mile of granite.' If granite, cooling at 600°, expels vapor in the process of crystallization it is reasonable to suppose that a considerably greater vapor pressure would result, and it is thought that the vapor expelled from crystallizing granitic batholiths probably has a pressure sufficient to lift two or three miles of granite. This vapor, collecting near the tops of cupolas of batholiths, is believed to exert sufficient pressure to fracture the hoods and roofs of batholiths above the cupolas. If that is true, one would expect to find that the fracture systems above cupolas are arranged in patterns that depend in part on the shapes of the cupolas. The mechanics of the situation seem to require that conical cupolas should have radial fracture patterns, that bluntly rounded cupolas should have fracture systems that are either irregular or rudely conjugated in plan, and that elongated stocks or cupolas should have fracture systems in which the fractu'res lie nearly parallel to the direction of the elongation of the cupolas. Study of essentially all the cupolas of the earth that have associated important vein-filled fractures shows that this is generally true. This

Jan 1, 1935

By R. J. Lloyd

INTRODUCTION The Mount Isa Mine is a large modern underground mine located in North-Western Queensland, Australia. Two ore types are mined and treated separately. Currently silver-lead-zinc ore is mined at the rate of 2.6 million tonnes per annum and copper ore at the rate of 4.6 million tonnes per annum. The silver-lead-zinc orebodies are mined by sub level open stoping and cut and fill methods whilst all copper ore is extracted by various forms of sub level open stoping. The mining operations are highly mechanised and utilise diesel powered load-haul-dump units of various sizes, two and three boom face drilling jumbos, electric-hydraulic rotary-percussive ring drills, in-the-hole hammer drills, rotary blasthole drills, raiseborers, battery/trolley locomotives, a large fleet of rubber tyred service and supply vehicles plus light rockdrills mounted on airlegs, rail mounted overshot shovels and battery and diesel powered locomotives. All stoping production ore is extracted with diesel powered load-haul-dump units. The ore is tipped into orepasses which connect to the main rail haulage levels. On the haulage levels electric battery/trolley locomotives are used to pull rakes of bottom dump or side dump trucks which feed the ore into primary crushers. Following two stage crushing the ore is conveyed to the shaft and hoistod to surface in bottom dump skips. Each ore stream has its own rail transport system, crushing stations and hoisting shaft feeding separate concentrators. This paper will consider some aspects of the role of equipment and machinery in the growth of the mine, will discuss in some detail the machinery and equipment in use today and will conclude with a look at some possible developments in mining equipment for the future, with particular reference to the Mount Isa Mine. A summary of mining equipment in use at Mount Isa is given in the Appendix. THE PAST Silver-lead-zinc ore was discovered at Mount Isa in 1923 and within a very short time many small mines were being developed. However the rich surface ore traces did not continue and by 1928 Mount Isa Mines Limited had acquired sufficient leases to plan for a large scale mine to exploit the low grade orebodies. At this early stage it was recognised that the mine would need to adopt the most mechanised mining techniques then available in order to overcome its twin disadvantages of low graaes and extreme remoteness. The Company introduced bar mounted drifters and overshot shovels to replace hammer and tap and hand shovelling in development work and by 1930 headings were advancing at the rate of 30 metres per week. In keeping with the concept of mechanisation the early engineers designed the Man and Supply shaft with a very large, for those days, cage compartment measuring 3.8 m x 3.4 m. This shaft was the main means of access into the mine for 36 years until the K57 shaft (now R62 shaft) was commissioned in 1966. Man and Supply is still in regular use. Production commenced in 1931 at an annual rate of approximately 660 000 tonnes of silver-lead-zinc ore. The mine was mechanised to an extent which was previously unknown in Australia; whilst the concentrator, smelter and power house utilised the most modern and efficient equipment available. Even so, the mine was very near to closure on several occasions and did not return a dividend to its shareholders for many years. Production levels remained at or slightly below 660 000 tonnes until a separate copper ore streani and mill was commissioned in 1953, doubling the existing production levels. The first underground crushers were installed at this time. Production rates expanded in the years between 1953 and 1973. By 1960 production reached 2740 000 tonnes of ore. In 1965-66 total production was 3650 000 tonnes and in 1973 the production rate plateaued at the current level.

Jan 1, 1981

By E. R. Macgregor, J. Halpern

The kinetics of the reduction of cupric salts in aqueous solution by molecular hydrogen to metallic copper are described. The rate of reduction appears to be homogeneously determined and shows a marked inverse dependence on the hydrogen-ion concentration. Precipitation of copper is more rapid and complete in sulfate than in per-chlorate solution. A mechanism is proposed which accounts for this behavior. IN recent years a number of important hydro-metallurgical processes have been developed in which metallic salts in aqueous solution are reduced by gaseous hydrogen, usually at elevated temperatures and pressures, and thereby precipitated either in metallic form (e.g. Ni, Co, Cu) or as an oxide or salt of lower valence (e.g. VO, and VA).1 ; In connection with applications such as these, most of which involve heterogeneously catalyzed reactions, recent demonstrations"-" that salts of certain metals, e.g., Cu", Ag' , Hg" , and Hg,+ can activate molecular hydrogen homogeneously and thus catalyze hydrogenation reactions in aqueous solution, are of considerable interest. For example, cupric salts catalyze the otherwise slow homogeneous reduction of dichromate and ceric salts by hydrogen, i.e. Cr,O; + 3HL. + 8H1 ? 2Cr'- -- 7H,O [1] 2Ce ' ! H.. ? 2Ce" | 2H . [2] In perchloric-acid solution, where Cu" is not appreciably complexed, the kinetics have been found" " to be of the form -d [H,] _- k,[HJ [CU"]' dt -LCu+' l+ (k ,/k,) [H] [3] where, K = 1x10"' exp [—26,600/RT] 1, mole-' min-' ... [4] and (k ,/k,) - 0.25 at 110°C. This kinetic behavior suggests that the reaction proceeds by a mechanism involving the following sequence of steps kt Cu" +H1CuH' 4-HA [51 k., CUH + CU" ? + 2Cu f H' [GI 6Cu'+ Cr,07 + 14H'+ 2Cr- (¦ 7H,O + 6Cu" ['i] fast The catalytic activities of the undissociated cupric-sulphate and cupric-acetate complexes are somewhat greater (by factors of 6.5 and 120, respectively) than that of the simple hydrated Cu" ion.'" These considerations suggest that, in contrast to the other hydrometallurgical hydrogenation reactions, referred to previously, reduction of cupric salts in aqueous solutions by molecular hydrogen, should proceed homogeneously, and in the absence of an extraneous catalyst. This has already been demonstrated" for acetate-buffered solutions where the product of the reaction is a precipitate of cuprous oxide (Cu,O). In the present paper, an investigation of the reduction of cupric salts in perchloric-acid and sulphuric-acid solutions, leading to the precipitation of metallic copper, is described. Some results for the sulphate system, which is of considerable hydrometallurgical interest, have been reported previously by Ipatieff",' " and by Schaufel-berger' but these do not give a quantitative account, of the kinetics and mechanism of the reaction. Experimental The reduction experiments were conducted in the 1-gal, titanium-lined autoclave described in connection with earlier related investigations," " and using a similar procedure. The solutions were made up by dissolving known amounts of CP grade Cu(ClO,), and HC10, (or CuSO, and HISO,) in dis-tilled water. While in the autoclave, the solution was stirred and maintained at a constant temperature (±loc) and under a constant partial pressure of hydrogen gas. It was ascertained that the agitation (provided by two 3-in., four-bladed stirrers, rotating at 900 rpm) was adequate so that at no time was the rate of reaction limited by solution of hydrogen. During each experiment, samples of the solution were withdrawn periodically, allowed to cool, and the concentration of copper remaining in solution was then determined electrolytically. Some Cu' is formed during the reaction, but undergoes disproportionation when the solution is cooled to room temperature. For purposes of kinetic calcula-

Jan 1, 1959

By Clyde Evarts Weed

SOME one once affirmed his great belief in luck, adding that he had found that the harder he worked the more luck he had. Clyde Weed is a firm believer in this method of courting the fugitive lady. He is at work early and late, often leaving his staff at Anaconda's offices at 25 Broadway breathless trying to keep up with the ideas teeming from a fertile brain and the actions those ideas entail. Miles ahead of his assistants much of the time, he still manages to be an agreeable fellow to work with, no small accomplishment as many can testify. Mr. Weed arrived in the world at Moorestown, Mich., on Aug. 8, 1890. Sixteen years later he entered Michigan Agricultural College, a lowly freshman. The following year, with the experience and wisdom expected of a sophomore, he transferred his studies from the reaping of a harvest on the surface of the earth to delving into the deeper, unpredictable bowels of the earth, his studies now shifted to the Michigan College of Mines. Last June his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Engineering.

Jan 1, 1947

By Henry Mulryan

THE largest and purest known deposit of diatomite is being actively mined and processed 3 ½ miles south of Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, Calif., by the Johns-Manville Products Corporation. The workings FIG. 1-LOCATION OF DIATOMITE DEPOSIT AT LOMPOC. cover 4000 acres, the depth of economically recoverable diatomite being 1000 ft. (Fig. 1). Lompoc, a community of 2500 population, is situated in the Santa Ynez River Valley 10 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. It is 44 miles

Jan 1, 1936

By A. Boltax

Precipitation processes occurring during both furnace cooling and aging of copper-iron albys were studied by means of electrical and magnetic measurements. On furnace cooling, two distinct stages in the precipitation process were detected; one occurring above and the other below 850° C. The kinetics of precipitation from quenched alloys were studied between 200° and 700°C. The reaction appears to be consistent with the concept of tmcleation of precipitate particles at dislocation loops formed by the clustering of quenched-in vacancies. A study Of in copper-iron alloys is particularly interesting because the combination of magnetic and electrical properties in these allovs provides a quantitative means of following the course of the precipitation reaction. (The details of precip-

Jan 1, 1961

F. E. Bachman, Port Henry, N. T. (communication to the Secretary*):—In discussing Mr. o.o.Laudig's paper, the Action of Blast-Furnace Gases Upon Various Iron-Ores,' I took the ground that Mesabi-ore explosions were entirely mechanical; but more observation and later experience has caused me to

Jan 1, 1905

September 1 to 6, 1918 COMMITTEE IN CHARGE Spencer Penrose, Chairman. George M. Taylor, Vice-Chairman. A. E. Carlton, Chairman. Finance Committee J. Dawson Hawkins, Secretary DENVER COLORADO SPRINGS CRIPPLE CREEK Finance Finance Thomas B. Crowe T. B. Stearns A. E. Canton , E. P. Arthur, Jr. Richard A. Parker Spencer Penrose N. S. Greensfelder T. B. Burbridge George M. Taylor A. E. Carlton. A. L. Blomfield, Treasurer B. F. Hill Arrangement I F. G. Willis Dave G. Miller Registration Norris E. Eads Frank Bulkley Loren C. Lennox 1V. E. Ryan Geo. E. Collins Horace F. Lunt Fred Jones .1. M. Tippett F. D. Smale Entertainment J. H. Haynes F. H. Bostwick Arrangement and Entertainment L. W. Lennox F. E. Shepard George M. Taylor A. L. Blomfield M. R.. Valentine Howland Bancroft J. D. Hawkins Thomas B. Crowe B. P. Morse A. E. Carlton E. P. Arthur J. G. Perry G. H. Clevenger Etienne A. Ritter Ladies Ladies , PUEBLO Mrs. T. B. Stearns, Mrs. C. M. Taylor, Mrs. C. H. Clevenger J. F. Welborn Chairman. Chairman H. B. Carpenter Mrs. C. Loughridge Mrs. S.-Penrose Mrs. A. E. Carlton L. B. Eames Mrs. H. Bancroft Mrs. J. D. Hawkins Mrs. A. L. Blomfield F. Robinson Mrs. G. Bancroft Mrs. L. C. Lennox Mrs. J. M. Tippett . Mrs. W. D. Leonard Mrs. H. F. Lunt -Mrs. E. C. van Diest Mrs. C. Chase Mrs. E. A. Ritter Mrs. AV. Strieby Mrs. F. H. Bostwick Mrs. L. S. Harner Mrs. C. L. Bailey Mrs. F. Bulkley Miss F. Dickerman Mrs. E. P. Shove Mrs. C. L. Tutt Mrs. F. C. Peck Mrs. F. D. Pastorius

Jan 10, 1918

By Walter W. Bradley

(Three, papers included, in this discussion are classified as Mining Geology and also as one of the following-A, Metal Mining: B, Milling and Concentration: L, Geophysics. These papers are TP 2255, TP 2092 and TP 2038.) CONTENTS [PAGE Review of Fluorescence as Applied to Minerals, with Special Reference to Scheelite. (TP 1967 by J. W. VANDERWILT, Min. Tech., March 1946. Discussion by WALTER W. BRADLEY) I Geologic Interpretation of Magnetic Exploration on the Mesabi Range, Minnesota. (TP 2038 by R. B. H. JONES, Min. Tech., July 1946. Discussion by ROBERT B. SOSMAN) I A Technique for Photographing Difficult Subjects through a Petrographic Microscope. (TP 2092 by DONALD W. SCOTT, Min. Tech., Nov. 1946. Discussion by HORACE WINCHELL) 2 The Search for Concealed Deposits-a Reorientation of Philosophy. (TP 2146 by SAMUEL G. LASKY, Min. Tech., May 1947. Discussion by T. M. BRODERICK)3 Occurrence of Lead-zinc Ore at Iron King Mine, Prescott, Arizona. (TP 21 go by H. F. MILLS, Min. Tech., July 1947. Discussion by HUGH M. ROBERTS)3 Geologic Relations and New Ore Bodies of the Republic District, Washington. (TP 2197 by LAWRENCE B. WRIGHT, Min. Tech., July 1947. Discussion by AUGUSTUS LOCKE and J. A. RICHARDSON) 4 San Manuel Prospect. (TP 2255 by H. J. STEELE and G. R. RUBLY, Min. Tech., Sept. 1947. Discussion by L. KENNETH WILSON, ELDRED D. WILSON and the author) 5] Review of Fluorescence as Applied to Minerals, with Special Reference to Scheelite WALTER W. BRADLEY*-AS I recall, the first portable units for ultra-violet light of practical use with scheelite were developed at the Nevada-Massachusetts Tungsten Mine at Mill City, Nevada, and were used underground. Ultra-violet lamps are also installed there in the mill, above the gravity-concentration tables, for control observations. Geologic Interpretation of Magnetic Exploration on the Mesabi Range, Minnesota ROBERT B. SOSMAN*-When artificial precipitated magnetite is oxidized at a temperature in the vicinity of 100°C, the oxide is converted into a chocolate brown ferric oxide of the formula Fe2O3, free from ferrous iron, yet possessing the same magnetic susceptibility as the original Fe3O4. This form of Fe2O3 is variously called "ferromagnetic ferric oxide," " maghemite," or "gamma ferric oxide," and has been found as a natural mineral. If a body of magnetite in the Biwabik were to oxidize to this form, the oxidized and leached ore body might successfully conceal itself from Mr. Jones' survey by this ferromagnetic pretense. So far, gamma ferric oxide has not been found on the Minnesota iron ranges. I thought I had found some in the Hibbing pit in 1940, in a strongly magnetic specimen of soft ore differing in color from the prevailing hematite

Jan 1, 1947

By J. C. Boswell, J. D. Crawford

IN addition to its base-metal and coal mining operations, the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Company has, for the past quarter century, been one of the few large American mining companies interested in dredging. Its activities in this field are confined to gold, and to Alaska, but it is the largest operator in that territory, with twelve huge dredges available to work during the summer on the frozen ancient beach sands at Nome and the gravels of Fairbanks. These operations will be described separately.

Jan 1, 1948

By T. L. McCall

THE late Walter Herd1 in 1929 gave a full description of past and present conditions in No. 2 mine, Springhill, Nova Scotia, developed theories regarding the cause of these bumps and made certain suggestions regarding possible methods of future development. Recapitulating briefly from Mr. Herd's paper, the seam is bituminous coal, averages 9 ft. in thickness and has a well defined parting containing fusain about 14 in. from the roof. This roof coal is somewhat stronger than the rest of the seam and has a tendency to cling to the roof. The pitch of the seam where it is now being worked is about 20°. The first manifestations of bumps began when the room and pillar workings had reached a depth of cover of 1900 ft. and under continuously increasing depth of cover these bumps increased to such an extent, both in number and severity, that in the year 1924 it became apparent that some change in the system of extraction was necessary. After closely studying all the factors involved and benefiting largely by valuable out-side advice obtained by the Provincial Department of Mines of Nova Scotia,2 the system of working was changed from room and pillar to longwall retreating. Mr. Herd's paper described in detail three remarkable bumps in the year 1928 in April, July and October that affected the 5700-ft. and 5900-ft. East levels, the last bump being so severe both in intensity and in extent of damage done that this district was abandoned. The longwall workings to the west of the slope had been stopped in the year 1926 owing to an inbreak of water, coming from the flooded waste of No. 3 seam lying some 400 ft. vertically overhead. This inflow was not excessive, but a large quantity of water being impounded in the old workings it was considered advisable to take the prudent course and not incur the risk of possibly increasing the flow by further working. This district has remained idle ever since.

Jan 1, 1934

Jan 1, 1925